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CAMMIEOTO x ENVY by NAJMIA PACK
Najmia Pack: How long have you been spinning?
DJ CammieOto: I actually started DJing in mid-April of last year. So it hasn't been a full year yet, but it's been pretty cool. I feel like things really started to take off for me in October or November last year. Those were very busy months.
NP:
What genres do you primarily spin? What has been your experience with expanding your music taste in the AZ music scene?
DJ CammieOto:
Most of the events that I've been going to are more like Afro, R&B, and hip hop, which I love. I think that also shows me I need to keep experimenting and like finding new spots, new places that play more than that. I'm very open-minded when it comes to music, so I love everything, but like you said, it's really easy to fall into a pattern of normalcy and the rhythm of getting too familiar with things.
NP:
What’s been your favorite club or space that you’ve DJ'd at in AZ and why?
DJ CammieOto:
Club Contact is awesome. I really hope to do more stuff because I remember when I was DJing there for Kenny Hilton’s show, the stage that they had us on was awesome. The bass, the feeling of the music.
NP:
What was your introduction to music and what has influenced your music taste?
DJ CammieOto:
I've always loved music. I don't come from a super musical background. When I was younger, I used to like to sing and write music, but aside from that, I never played instruments.
I think that's a confidence thing too, because when I was younger, I found a lot of comfort and joy in singing and writing for myself, but the older I got, I became a teenager and peak insecurities hit. You lose a lot of confidence, so you get scared to experiment with that. I feel like that's the case for a lot of creative individuals. They get scared to showcase (their work), and show their vulnerability, that is passion, I guess. Which is exactly why I love Pink Pantheress so much. I see so much of myself in Pink Pantheress because I remember that at the start of her career, she used to be anonymous. She was faceless.
NP:
What’s your favorite song to play to reset the dance floor?
DJ CammieOto: I love my girl Pink Pantheress. Probably “Tonight”. I feel like that's a Cammie Otto anthem. I love that song. Honestly, anything on Fancy. It's gonna make the girls dance.
DJ CammieOto: I love my girl Pink Pantheress. Probably “Tonight”. I feel like that's a Cammie Otto anthem. I love that song. Honestly, anything on Fancy. It's gonna make the girls dance.
NP:
What was your most memorable event you spun at this year and why?
DJ CammieOto:
I'm definitely gonna say the December show with Miniskirt was probably my most memorable. I remember for that set, I was so nervous because I knew it was going to be, like, a huge thing, because it was MiniSkirt. They are so awesome, and they're the sweetest, and the fact that it was an all-girl lineup was so cute. It was awesome.
NP: Tell me about your mixes? What makes putting sound out an absolute yes?
DJ CammieOto: So, the mix that I made with Jamie Lee, we were both really excited to do that. She approached me with the idea, and I was so surprised by it because Jamie is literally one of the sweetest people I know, and the fact that she took a chance on me, just to collaborate and do something like that, was really sweet and very healing.
But the mix that we made was for Halloween. It was a spooky mix, and I knew for that one, I wanted to experiment, mess around with wordplay transitions because I felt like that would be pretty, like, icing on the cake for that.
NP: Milestones you've hit in your career thus far? Can be as simple as getting a board, being hired for a family event.
DJ CammieOto: Getting my board. Very impulsively, one day after work at my last job. I decided on payday, I was going to the Guitar Center and buying the FLX 4 that I have right now. I remember texting the group chat that my friends were in, and I was like, ”Guys, this is the moment it's happening!
I remember the 1st time I started messing around with it, I was like, I don't think I'm built for this detail shit at all. Like, I was so scared. But then, with trial and error, the more I just tinkered around and kept messing around, I realized what would work for me, what wouldn't work for me, and just kept doing that. Actually, the first night that I got my board, I DJ’d at my friend's birthday party.
NP: It seems like the DJ scene can be really collaborative. Shows with Kenny Hilton, Miniskirt, DJ J-Me-Lee. How did you find friendships to partnerships or reverse while getting into the scene?
DJ CammieOto: Friendship to me is everything, first and foremost. 100% of the gigs I've gotten is just because I know the person, or they’re mutual friends with friends of mine, and they've heard mixes of mine, or saw posts of mine, and we're just like, “Holy shit, you’re the girl?” I joke around all the time, I'm low-key an industry plant. I'm really shy and really introverted. So I always just try to keep putting myself out there because you never know who you're going to meet. Just being yourself allows you to find work.
What was your most memorable event you spun at this year and why?
DJ CammieOto:
I'm definitely gonna say the December show with Miniskirt was probably my most memorable. I remember for that set, I was so nervous because I knew it was going to be, like, a huge thing, because it was MiniSkirt. They are so awesome, and they're the sweetest, and the fact that it was an all-girl lineup was so cute. It was awesome.
NP: Tell me about your mixes? What makes putting sound out an absolute yes?
DJ CammieOto: So, the mix that I made with Jamie Lee, we were both really excited to do that. She approached me with the idea, and I was so surprised by it because Jamie is literally one of the sweetest people I know, and the fact that she took a chance on me, just to collaborate and do something like that, was really sweet and very healing.
But the mix that we made was for Halloween. It was a spooky mix, and I knew for that one, I wanted to experiment, mess around with wordplay transitions because I felt like that would be pretty, like, icing on the cake for that.
NP: Milestones you've hit in your career thus far? Can be as simple as getting a board, being hired for a family event.
DJ CammieOto: Getting my board. Very impulsively, one day after work at my last job. I decided on payday, I was going to the Guitar Center and buying the FLX 4 that I have right now. I remember texting the group chat that my friends were in, and I was like, ”Guys, this is the moment it's happening!
I remember the 1st time I started messing around with it, I was like, I don't think I'm built for this detail shit at all. Like, I was so scared. But then, with trial and error, the more I just tinkered around and kept messing around, I realized what would work for me, what wouldn't work for me, and just kept doing that. Actually, the first night that I got my board, I DJ’d at my friend's birthday party.
NP: It seems like the DJ scene can be really collaborative. Shows with Kenny Hilton, Miniskirt, DJ J-Me-Lee. How did you find friendships to partnerships or reverse while getting into the scene?
DJ CammieOto: Friendship to me is everything, first and foremost. 100% of the gigs I've gotten is just because I know the person, or they’re mutual friends with friends of mine, and they've heard mixes of mine, or saw posts of mine, and we're just like, “Holy shit, you’re the girl?” I joke around all the time, I'm low-key an industry plant. I'm really shy and really introverted. So I always just try to keep putting myself out there because you never know who you're going to meet. Just being yourself allows you to find work.